The UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) released its first report to the General Assembly on October 20, 2022, which has been dubbed “a masterpiece of modern antisemitism”. Created in 2021 to investigate the “underlying root causes” of the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict, the Commission is proving to be another weapon with which to attack Israel.
Prof. Anne Bayefsky has called the verdict of the COI the “archetypal moral inversion”. She states, the Commission has accused Israel of “Nazi-like crimes”, whilst it commits “the Nazi-like crime of demonizing and destroying the Jewish state”.
Other responses to the report:
“Once again the entire report is only targeting Israel. There is no mention of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad Hamas, the Lion’s Den. Pick your Palestinian terrorist group, pick the Islamic Republic of Iran – which is funding and financing and arming these groups – no mention whatsoever”.
US Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council Michele Taylor
“We are deeply concerned by the Israel Commission of Inquiry’s one-sided report, which contributes to the polarization of the situation and does not advance prospects for peace. The COI’s open-ended nature and vague scope, along with the antisemitic remarks made by a member of the Commission, further demonstrate the disproportionate, biased treatment of Israel at the HRC”.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price
“We have made our concerns about this Commission of Inquiry clear from the start. Israel is consistently unfairly targeted in the UN system, including in the course of this Commission of Inquiry. Israel is the only country that’s subject to a standing country-specific agenda… …We continue to work… …to see to it that Israel is not unfairly singled out”.
IINZ has written twice to New Zealand’s foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta, expressing concern and urging action. Thus far there has been no response.
